The pursuit of Happiness

As I finish reading the biography of Voltaire, I came across many facts I was not aware of, per example in his time, people had little knowledge of other countries or of what was going on elsewhere outside of the immediate area where they lived. Well over 95% of the population did not know how to read and write and where so ignorant of the world that the lives of average people was governed by superstitions and whatever the Lord of the Manor or the Priest said to you. Public Opinion as we know it today did not exist. In his time public opinion was people at Court in Versailles and a few intellectuals. The rest of Frenchmen had no knowledge really of what was happening. This gives a very different coloring to mass movements under the Revolution 20 years after his death. The crowds were still being manipulated then by clever orators. Political manipulators who believed they could turn on and off mob fury against anyone perceived as an enemy, this led some historians to state that the French Revolution was more a civil war than a true revolution.

When Voltaire went to England for the first time, it might as well have been to the moon, France and England were vastly different countries, England had a Constitution, a well established Parliament, the Justice system was well organized and there was Freedom of Expression, none of that existed in France.
The Roman Catholic Church controlled many aspects of life in France and any crimes against the Church was punished with extreme severity, cutting off limbs, tearing out of tongues, torture and burning at a stake was very common punishment for any slight against the authority of the Church. Per example failing to remove your hat when a religious procession passed was enough for a death sentence.

With the age of Enlightenment in Europe the idea of Freedom of Expression in France and elsewhere started to gain ground and with it came the idea that man should pursue Happiness. It was a fashionable idea. As of 1730 this idea appears in writings by many philosophers of the time in France and elsewhere.
This idea or concept will then be borrowed by American thinkers who were much influenced by both England and France's Enlightenment movement. This borrowed concept will finally be incorporated into the US Constitution as an idea that all men are entitled to the Pursuit of Happiness, an 18 century concept which has loss its meaning in our modern age.

Legal reforms in France only came about with the Revolution, during Voltaire's life he will write about the need to reform the law, for a separation of Civil and Criminal Law from Church Law. That judges had to be trained in the legal profession and not become judges because they could afford to buy a judgeship. That punishment must be a deterrent not a means to seek revenge.
That Justice is part of the Social Contract and the Law should apply equally to all, whether Noble or Commoner. The accused should have access to legal representation and should be allowed to cross examine witnesses against them.

Many of the ideas of the time were about shaking off the authority of the Church and its stranglehold on society. Allowing men, at first this meant people who had property and where educated compared to all of society as we think of it today, to have a social contract between the governed and the King, establishing obligations and basic rights. Voltaire or any other person, per example could not travel abroad without permission of the King.

Books which were denounced by the Church and failed to pass the Censors at Court could be burned publicly. Writers of such banned books could also face severe punishment. It is difficult for us to imagine  today in our Western World where we can do and say pretty much whatever we want and have the freedom to travel and behave inappropriately and not fear any retribution what it must have been like to live in such a repressive regime.  Of course such regime exist still today in some parts of the world.

The ideas of the French Enlightenment were denounced by the Church as the work of Satan and the Church used its enormous powers and influence to persecute anyone who dared challenge the established authority.  After reading Voltaire's correspondence contained in this book, I understand better the ferocity of the Revolution against the old order and the Church in France in particular.